Parents in Chicago worry Safe Passage won't last

CHICAGO (AP) — Concerned Chicago parents took time off work or recruited other family members to make sure students got to class safely as school opened Monday.

The first day of school in Chicago also saw an expanded Safe Passage program with hundreds of newly hired guards watching over designated routes.

Chicago Public Schools announced in May it would close about 50 schools. Critics worried kids would have to cross gang boundaries traveling to schools in neighborhoods farther from home.

Annie Stovall walked with her 9-year-old granddaughter to her first day at Gresham Elementary School. Stovall says she's skeptical about whether the city's Safe Passage show of force will last. She says check back in five or six weeks to see how safe the students are then.